Sue and I just returned from a long-awaited trip to Curacao, and I thought it would be good to write this up before my alzheimers kicks in...
Our plan had us arriving on Curacao Nov 1. Sadly, Tomas also decided to vist that day, and he got there first. So, after two hours flying in circles (we were ferrying fuel, so had plenty) we finally diverted to Aruba. American Airlines put us up in the Rennaisance, which is a nice place if anybody is planning a trip to Aruba. We got there too late, and were leaving too early, to see any part of Aruba. We finally made it to Curacao Nov 2nd.
Breezes: An average resort with an above average price. I am sure there are better values to be had, so unless you're just set on an AI, (of which Breezes is the only one on Curacao) you'd be best off looking elsewhere.
The Dive Bus: Can't say enough good things about Mark and Suzy. Fabulous people. Sue and I are still new divers and as such we are still working on things like bouyancy control and trim. I've always had heavy feet. Suzy suggested a fin swap, which made a world of difference. I'm now a huge fan of the TUSA Tri-EX fins. I can now stay horizontal with only the tiniest bit of effort. Mark gave Sue a lot of attention and help and her own bouyancy and trim improved greatly.
Curacao: Beautiful. Stunning. Lush. If you visit, you must go have a drink at the Iguana Cafe and watch the Queen Emma Bridge in operation. Personally, I'd love to take a day or two on another trip, rent a Jeep, and drive around finding ways to go explore all the 16th C forts left by the bays.
The Diving: Thanks to Tomas, we didn't get in as much diving as we'd planned. We did one short shallow dive on the Breezes House Reef the day we arrived, five two-tank days with Mark, plus one more dive on the House Reef. Thanks to the weather, our site choices were limited, but I'm not opposed to repeat dives. Each dive is always a new experience. We dove Pierbaai, Portomari, and Directors Bay. Sadly, I flooded my video camera early in the trip, so most of what we have are stills.
The typical Curacao dive is pretty straight forward. Walk into the water, surface swim the massive distance to the reef (less than a minute...) and descend. Swim out to the drop off, descend to about 60 feet and follow the reef either left or right till you've used half your gas. Ascend to the top of the reef and follow it back to your entry, ascending all the way. There's no safety stop. You'll spend plenty of time around 15 feet on the return, so enjoy your safety go.
The coral growth on the Curacao reefs is amazing. We saw fine specimens of brain coral, stovepipe sponges, barrel sponges, sea fans... On the animal side, we saw Tarpon, a sea cucumber, squid, octopus, shrimp, porcupine fish, balloon fish, green moray, spotted moray, sharp tail eel, a gold spotted snake eel, bearded fire worm, flamingo tongues, sea lettuce slugs, scorpion fish, sand divers, queen angelfish, french angelfish, and the usual swarms of tangs, butterfly fish, damsel fish and chromis.
Here's a clip of a Spotted Moray having a snack.
And a few random pictures: Squid, Anemone, Queen Angelfish, Iguana, Scorpion fish, part of The Car Pile, and a hidden octopus.
Our plan had us arriving on Curacao Nov 1. Sadly, Tomas also decided to vist that day, and he got there first. So, after two hours flying in circles (we were ferrying fuel, so had plenty) we finally diverted to Aruba. American Airlines put us up in the Rennaisance, which is a nice place if anybody is planning a trip to Aruba. We got there too late, and were leaving too early, to see any part of Aruba. We finally made it to Curacao Nov 2nd.
Breezes: An average resort with an above average price. I am sure there are better values to be had, so unless you're just set on an AI, (of which Breezes is the only one on Curacao) you'd be best off looking elsewhere.
The Dive Bus: Can't say enough good things about Mark and Suzy. Fabulous people. Sue and I are still new divers and as such we are still working on things like bouyancy control and trim. I've always had heavy feet. Suzy suggested a fin swap, which made a world of difference. I'm now a huge fan of the TUSA Tri-EX fins. I can now stay horizontal with only the tiniest bit of effort. Mark gave Sue a lot of attention and help and her own bouyancy and trim improved greatly.
Curacao: Beautiful. Stunning. Lush. If you visit, you must go have a drink at the Iguana Cafe and watch the Queen Emma Bridge in operation. Personally, I'd love to take a day or two on another trip, rent a Jeep, and drive around finding ways to go explore all the 16th C forts left by the bays.
The Diving: Thanks to Tomas, we didn't get in as much diving as we'd planned. We did one short shallow dive on the Breezes House Reef the day we arrived, five two-tank days with Mark, plus one more dive on the House Reef. Thanks to the weather, our site choices were limited, but I'm not opposed to repeat dives. Each dive is always a new experience. We dove Pierbaai, Portomari, and Directors Bay. Sadly, I flooded my video camera early in the trip, so most of what we have are stills.
The typical Curacao dive is pretty straight forward. Walk into the water, surface swim the massive distance to the reef (less than a minute...) and descend. Swim out to the drop off, descend to about 60 feet and follow the reef either left or right till you've used half your gas. Ascend to the top of the reef and follow it back to your entry, ascending all the way. There's no safety stop. You'll spend plenty of time around 15 feet on the return, so enjoy your safety go.
The coral growth on the Curacao reefs is amazing. We saw fine specimens of brain coral, stovepipe sponges, barrel sponges, sea fans... On the animal side, we saw Tarpon, a sea cucumber, squid, octopus, shrimp, porcupine fish, balloon fish, green moray, spotted moray, sharp tail eel, a gold spotted snake eel, bearded fire worm, flamingo tongues, sea lettuce slugs, scorpion fish, sand divers, queen angelfish, french angelfish, and the usual swarms of tangs, butterfly fish, damsel fish and chromis.
Here's a clip of a Spotted Moray having a snack.
And a few random pictures: Squid, Anemone, Queen Angelfish, Iguana, Scorpion fish, part of The Car Pile, and a hidden octopus.
